Geneticist sentenced in art case

Written byAlison McCook

| 1 min read

A geneticist was sentenced to one year of unsupervised release (no jail time) and a $500 fine for supplying bacteria to an artist, linkurl:according to;http://www.buffalonews.com/258/story/273792.html the Buffalo News, bringing to an end a well-publicized case that began more than three years ago. Robert Ferrell, based at the University of Pittsburgh, linkurl:pled guilty in October;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/53702/ to a misdemeanor, after he supplied Steven Kurtz with bacteria for use in biotechnology art projects. The men were originally charged with mail and wire fraud in connection with Ferrell's purchase of samples of two common bacteria, Serratia marcescens and Bacillus atrophaeus, for Kurtz. Ferrell and Kurtz were indicted in June, 2004. Over the course of the trial, Ferrell and Kurtz accumulated support from several organizations, including the American Association of University Professors and the American Civil Liberties Union, along with medical researchers. The indictment "is just part of the 'select agent' hysteria," C.J. Peters, a professor and bioterror researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, linkurl:told us;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/22235/ in June, 2004. "Making common organisms sound as though they should be under lock and key is very confusing to law enforcement and the public." "I am dismayed by what appears to me to be yet one more instance in which knowledgeable persons in the field of bioterrorism are not being brought in and consulted to ascertain what might be real problems and what are purely spurious problems," D.A. Henderson, senior advisor of Pitt's Center for Biosecurity, linkurl:said;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/22260/ after Ferrell and Kurtz were indicted.

Geneticist sentenced in art case

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